Halo: Infinite (Dec. 8th, 2021) - Xbox Series X

[GlassesJacketShirt]

@GJS, you gotta understand that for Halo: CE a lot of those levels weren't very imaginative. A ton were to get to point A in the level and then backtrack to the beginning or go through a side-path close to where you started. A reason why was because Halo was supposed to be released on MacIntosh and it was even at one of their annual MAC events. Then Microsoft at the last possible minute in the design of the game decided to purchase Bungie as a studio and then they had to switch it from 3rd person to 1st including everything else you got in the original game. Because of the short transition from Apple to Microsoft, they had limited time to work on the levels.

Now with that said, "Library" is one of my favourite levels because it is probably the hardest in any Halo game - with perhaps "Quarantine Zone" for me. You can tell that the devs were not quite sure about how to make a challenge yet fun level that was at least passable for a certain skill set. In "Library", they threw all that out the window and pretty much went balls to the wall in terms of difficulty. When you beat it on Legendary on solo mode though, you feel it as an accomplishment and brag to all your friends.

I agree that "Cortana" was poorly designed, though I don't think I entirely hated it because it's an important level for the story. Personally, I thought one of the worst levels in the entire Bungie trilogy was "Floodgate". Boring design, boring setting, and just boring enemies. And "Crow's Nest", just starring at an underground beige interior for the entire level was pathetic. The first half of Halo 3 - besides Tsavo Highway - wasn't very good, but then the story really picks up with "The Ark".

I couldn't disagree more with your perspective. The Library is an abomination for me on every quantifiable measure, the level equivalent of The White Album's Ob-La-Di, Ob-La-Da.

 

[GreytWun]

I didn’t find Library that difficult on Legendary, just took a very long time to beat. Mind you I did it a bunch of times with another buddy.

 

[JaegerDice]

“Cortana” was Halo’s version of Hell. It was pretty excruciating to get through at some points. Not because it was unfair, but because it was that hard.

“Library” was just unfairly hard

Thematically it fits.

You were basically journeying into the pit of hell to save Cortana’s soul.

Doesnt make it fun tho

 

[Soedy]

I must be the only one who loves the library. Hat Cortana though.

I recently read all the novels and am pretty hyped for Inifinite.

 

[JaegerDice]

Delayed to 2021.

Probably for the best.




Hopefully they take some of that time to BRING BACK THRUSTERS

 

[Beau Knows]

Not terribly surprising.

Initially I thought they'd never delay this thing since the XBOX Series X (I still can't believe that's the actual name) really needs it. But the response to the trailer was...not good, even though imo there were some intriguing things about the game, the demo and the graphics were underwhelming. So I think having a chance to basically re-debut the game again a few months from now when it's closer to being ready will be good for them.

 

[AllAbout813]

This should come as a shock to no one. The game they showed is no where near up to par. A lot of work to be done, and I think the Halo community all can see this. They need to take their time to get it right.

I may be naive with this question, but how exactly is COVID impacting this games development so negatively. Aren’t all these guys able to work remotely? It’s not like they are making physical parts. Seems like transitioning to remote work should be pretty seamless in this industry.

 

[aleshemsky83]

Said it in the other thread, they need to abandon the open world during this delay. Make it open ended levels like Crysis and the early halo games, specifically the opening of 1.

 

[The Mars Volchenkov]

The reality is this likely won’t be the last fall/holiday game that gets delayed.

 

[x Tame Impala]

Well, f***!

 

[Jussi]

This should come as a shock to no one. The game they showed is no where near up to par. A lot of work to be done, and I think the Halo community all can see this. They need to take their time to get it right.

I may be naive with this question, but how exactly is COVID impacting this games development so negatively. Aren’t all these guys able to work remotely? It’s not like they are making physical parts. Seems like transitioning to remote work should be pretty seamless in this industry.

I have a feeling they're not allowed to take dev kits home.

 

[Commander Clueless]

That's a tough call for Microsoft. I'm sure they wanted to launch next gen with a Halo game.

I have feeling they're not allowed to take dev kits home.

I suppose that would be a leaky nightmare....

 

[x Tame Impala]

One thing I think 343 should reincorporate into multiplayer is duel wielding. Bring it back and maybe even make it a little more balanced up against rifles like it was in Halo 2. 343 Halo multiplayer is so movement based as is, the game might offer a little more different experience but still stays true to some old multiplayer roots.

 

[JaegerDice]

One thing I think 343 should reincorporate into multiplayer is duel wielding. Bring it back and maybe even make it a little more balanced up against rifles like it was in Halo 2. 343 Halo multiplayer is so movement based as is, the game might offer a little more different experience but still stays true to some old multiplayer roots.

Im indifferent toward dual wielding. It was never effective enough to be worthwhile in high level play. But its not like it hurt the game.

My general rule for Halo is that higher skill-gap weapons should have better optimal TTK than lower skill-gap weapons. If you have an automatic weapon and a precision/single shot weapon that operate at the same range in the sandbox, then somebody that nails all their shots with the precision weapon should always win (we’re putting grenade and melee usage aside for now).

If dual-wielding comes back it should either a) hold to that rule or b) come with enough disadvantages to negate breaking that rule. Whether its the ability to use grenades (like halo 2), in ability to mantle or use armor abilities, severe penalties to accuracy or reload time, or all of the above.

 

[Beau Knows]

Sounds like development on this game has been a mess, and that COVID may not be entirely to blame: Halo Infinite Development Reportedly Hindered By Outsourcing, Halo TV Show a 'Distraction' - IGN

Thurrott's source claims that the outsourcing "was at a ratio higher than a typical studio undertakes during development," which has led to communication and collaboration headaches for 343 Industries. Apparently, the E3 2019 trailer for Halo Infinite was outsourced while the game was not in a playable state, which "over-sold expectations for Infinite's later demos."

The Thurrott report also dwells on the departure of high-profile creatives such as Tim Longo and Mary Olsen as a reason for the turmoil - both were creative directors who left 343 Industries in 2019. The recent rumour that the game was going to ship with multiplayer and campaign as separate entities is also corroborated, with the report suggesting that this came under consideration as a means to "meet the Holiday 2020 deadline."

But that's also true of the first 2 games, so it doesn't necessarily spell doom for the game, but it's concerning.

 

[JaegerDice]

Sounds like development on this game has been a mess, and that COVID may not be entirely to blame: Halo Infinite Development Reportedly Hindered By Outsourcing, Halo TV Show a 'Distraction' - IGN





But that's also true of the first 2 games, so it doesn't necessarily spell doom for the game, but it's concerning.

It's honestly true of more games than we hear about.

Red Dead Redemption was apparently a mess late, Bioshock and Bioshock Infinite, both Destiny games, Anthem obviously, Mass Effect 3, I could go on with more that have been reported, and those are the only ones where it was actually reported.

If the company is big enough to swallow the cost, I think it's always better to delay a game. Its much easier than trying to fix a lackluster product after the fact.

 

[Soedy]

Halo 2 was a mess aswell. Especially the MP.

 

[JaegerDice]

Halo 2 was a mess aswell. Especially the MP.

Yeah, but being the first true killer app on Xbox Live (Sorry Crimson Skies and MechAssault), plus all the great community features Bungie baked in helped keep excitement high and things feeling fun until MLG rules/settings took hold to help balance things out.

 

[x Tame Impala]

Yeah, but being the first true killer app on Xbox Live (Sorry Crimson Skies and MechAssault), plus all the great community features Bungie baked in helped keep excitement high and things feeling fun until MLG rules/settings took hold to help balance things out.

I'm replaying Crimson Skies now

 

[x Tame Impala]

They had FIVE YEARS for this game! If those rumors are true that's incredibly disappointing that they can't get things together in that timeframe.

 

[JaegerDice]

They had FIVE YEARS for this game! If those rumors are true that's incredibly disappointing that they can't get things together in that timeframe.

They've had 5 years since Halo 5 came out, but I'm not sure what've been truly developing a new Halo for all that time. And I'd guess they've probably been developing this vision even less time than that.

They had a year at least of consistent content support for Halo 5. So even if they had a part of the company starting conceptual and pre-production on Halo 5, it's not all-systems-go. Once they go all-systems-go into production of a game, how far do they get before they change course? Once they change course, how much do they keep, how much can they keep, how much has to be completely thrown out and rebuilt from scratch?

It is frustrating, but I don't think they were just incompetently failing to make progress on the same game for all 5 years.

 

[x Tame Impala]

They've had 5 years since Halo 5 came out, but I'm not sure what've been truly developing a new Halo for all that time. And I'd guess they've probably been developing this vision even less time than that.

They had a year at least of consistent content support for Halo 5. So even if they had a part of the company starting conceptual and pre-production on Halo 5, it's not all-systems-go. Once they go all-systems-go into production of a game, how far do they get before they change course? Once they change course, how much do they keep, how much can they keep, how much has to be completely thrown out and rebuilt from scratch?

It is frustrating, but I don't think they were just incompetently failing to make progress on the same game for all 5 years.

They were incompetent with their Halo 5 product, shipping it out as barebones as they did and filled with glitches/bugs. That's on them. If those mistakes bled into the development of Infinite (and i don't see how it couldn't have) then that's still an incompetent failure as well.

It doesn't matter if they spent all 5 years developing the new game or not, it's been 5 years since the last game came out and there's a new system to play it on. The game isn't ready yet, five years after H5's release. It's incompetency. And considering the lackluster products that Halo 4 & 5 were, for a variety of reasons, if they screw this up too I really hope that 343 no longer gets the reigns with this franchise and it's given to some other Dev team.

 

[JaegerDice]

They were incompetent with their Halo 5 product, shipping it out as barebones as they did and filled with glitches/bugs. That's on them. If those mistakes bled into the development of Infinite (and i don't see how it couldn't have) then that's still an incompetent failure as well.

It doesn't matter if they spent all 5 years developing the new game or not, it's been 5 years since the last game came out and there's a new system to play it on. The game isn't ready yet, five years after H5's release. It's incompetency. And considering the lackluster products that Halo 4 & 5 were, for a variety of reasons, if they screw this up too I really hope that 343 no longer gets the reigns with this franchise and it's given to some other Dev team.

If they screw this up there's a good chance that you won't see another Halo game for a very long time.

 

[x Tame Impala]

If they screw this up there's a good chance that you won't see another Halo game for a very long time.

And it would probably be for the best. As long as they keep MCC running then i'm fine with no new Halo content for a while.

 

[JaegerDice]

And it would probably be for the best. As long as they keep MCC running then i'm fine with no new Halo content for a while.

I feel the same.

But I'd rather they take 10 years and get it right than take 5 and kill the franchise by shipping a mediocre product.